The special election in Pennsylvania Congressional District 18 is today. The polls close at 8:00pm EST. The district political registration heavily favors the Democrat Conor Lamb with a +50,000 advantage in Democrat registered voters. However, President Trump carried the mostly blue-collar district in 2016, and he supports Republican Rick Saccone.

Generally speaking the Democrat Conor Lamb is favored; and with that outcome in mind the media began using this likely Democrat win to position an anti-Trump narrative. To counter that narrative President Trump went to PA and campaigned with Rick Saccone. Both RNC and DNC have spent a lot of money on this temporary district race.

Democrat Conor Lamb is attempting to revive the extinct “blue-dog” model and has refuted Nancy Pelosi along with the far-left-wing of the Democrat party; while emphasizing his strong labor union relationships. On the Republican side, the district is Pro-Trump on the national economics but candidate Rick Saccone has strongly supported ‘right-to-work’ policies which the local unions do not like. So it’s a weird election.

The problem is this Lamb guy is going to be a Pelosi yes-man from day 1. Too many voters still believe the rhetoric and the “promises” despite it being a load of bull designed to get elected. Pelosi may be senile, but she does not abide dissent. The Dems vote as a bloc for their communist agenda every. single. time.

Lamb lied and/or hid his stance on the issues to the voters. He had a lot of outside $$$ coming in and used it to his advantage. He is going to get in line rather quickly if he wins. He is NOT a Trump Democrat when you look at what he and Saccone stand for side-by-side. He’s a farce.

Of interest, Wikileaks put out a tweet stating 100+ Dems seeking the nomination to run for office have NSC/State Dept/Secret Clearance experience and/or credentials (I’m not doing it justice with the verbiage). The implication, I believe is the Deepstate push to take control to resist Trump.

ALEX you are making a fatal flaw! When you compare our President running against ultra liberal HRC, a district wit 50K more Democrats said we are going with DJT. Lamb ran on all MAGA except immigration. He was further right than Saccone on certain agenda items.

It is not an apple to apple comparison! Had Lamb ran on HRC agenda, he would have got destroyed. That is the point you ne to remember. The majority of Democrats run to the far left not the middle. In districts our President won, that will devastate them. Keep that in mind.

So, the Dems for all practical purposes voted for a MAGA-issues candidate, excluding immigration. Plus he was a better candidate. If he actually doesn’t get behind Pelosi, I think he’ll outlast her. We could be looking at the new type of D candidate – one who runs on some MAGA issues.

R’s need to get rid of incumbent RINOs especially Mitch McConnell. Do you realize how much money McConnell spent AGAINST Roy Moore? I want to see the Unipartiers OUT. None of them are PDJT’s friends. They’d stab him in the back as good as look at him.

Marginal Republican candidates get marginal turnout. Think of virtually all the presidential elections since Regan: His first election, W was the candidate R’s voted for most enthusiastically until this past cycle. Other than that, we mostly voted against the opponent and their values.

I don’t think he’s an outlier. The Dems have been recruiting young, ex-military candidates just like him. And they’re basically Trump-lite. He kept his head down and stuck to local issues. For Trump Democrats, candidates like him will be irresistible.

And I’m sure the voters believe what he’s preaching. What they don’t understand is that he’ll never be allowed to vote with Trump even if he wants to.

This strategy won’t work everywhere because the progressives won’t allow it but it will be problematic in the rust belt and other similar locations. Fortunately, in this case, in seven months it will me a mute point as the districts are redrawn.

Yes,they’re sly. They have to be — survival strategy 101. So the Democrat Leadership Council and Blue Dog democrat are long since extinct and any so-called moderate democrat will be shunned and shamed like Joe Lieberman and the Left has total stranglehold in Washington but they’ll put up these ersatz “moderates” as they gerrymander and commit massive endless voter fraud and the Republicans will stupidly do nothing about it.

Competitive district? Trump carried it by 20%, and the Dems haven’t even run anyone for Congress in the last two elections.

The talking heads are hammering this all night, and it shows how shallow their thinking is. Trump is not on the ballot, therefore there are no coattails to drag anyone anywhere. All these special elections really show is that Trump being on the ballot was the key ingredient missing today and every other day. But talking heads will talk, incessantly 24/7/365, and say nothing.

Reagan whipped Carter in 1980 and annihilated Mondale in 1984, and in that latter butt-whoopin he won 49 states with 525 electors and a massive 58.8% of the total popular vote ( and in 30 states he took over 60% ). Yet he never once won that damn communist House of Representatives, and squeaked by with narrow wins in the Senate the same as Trump ( 53 seats ) but only during the first three cycles 1980/1982/1984.

Besides the Enemedia acting as a fifth column for the (D)ummycrats, we also have the same persistent problem of a non-strategic and barely tactical Congressional campaign, same as back then during Reagan. They collect lots of donations, accumulate massive pots of cash but apparently only spend it on guaranteed winners and ruling class approved (R)epublicrats. It is time to ask the question whether that Romneyette at RNC really is competent at her job ( should have been Sarah Palin IMHO ). Hopefully this will light a fire under her and Kellyanne’s butts to get motivated now ( however this should have started immediately on November 8, 2016 ).

One remaining mystery out there is just how a Romney wound up as RNC chair. Trump interviews Mittens for SoS, says thanks but no thanks and sends him on his merry way with a long disappointed face, yet the next thing we know his niece is in charge of the national (R) party. I still don’t see what he or the party gained from that exhibition.

I was rooting for Sarah Palin to get the gig because she formed SaraPac, honed the skills of identifying local candidates during the TEA party revolution, and was an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump since day one.

I also wanted her because if she were made boss at the RNC it would be much the same effect as Trump going to Washington – they would require suicide nets around all the RNC headquarters to catch the crazed globalists as they leaped from their plush offices rather than report to a pro-American. ( the nets are completely optional )

Maybe there is a possible compromise with a joint leadership arrangement, Sarah in charge of candidate recruitment and ground game, and the Romneyette in charge of the money bags. Bring in Kellyanne to handle polling and then there is a team effort covering all constituents. The problem right now is that I don’t see the Romneyette outreach to the grassroots TEA party and other deplorables.

How can you blame the candidate when he was clearly the PARTY elite’s choice? Look deeper for the real problem. Romneyette doesn’t seem to have much clout, she does as she’s told. Rinse Preibus never let go of the reigns, even when he was POTUS’ Chief of Staff.

Comparing any of these candidates to President Trump is not a good measure of performance. POTUS won Michigan, he would have done so with or without help. Just as he won Wisconsin, with NO HELP from Paul Rayon, or Rinse Preibus – who stopped allocating money to President Trump’s race and spent it all on incumbents.

Rona was chair in Michigan and helped deliver it for Trump. She has been and is 1000000% on the Trump Train.

She is NOT her uncle.

Sarconne was not a good candidate… not her fault.

Yeah well, I’ll accept she is not her Uncle, but not that she delivered Michigan. Did she also deliver PA, WI, and OH? Trump delivered all those States by flying in on Trump Force I over and over again, and addressing (R)epublicrat 3rd rail issues like trade, tariffs, coal and auto they had abandoned. People in the Upper Pen have always been solid and dependably pro-American with or without a Romney around, and have been desperate for years for someone like Trump to come along and drag the lower trolls back to reality, and it took a blue collar billionaire to do just that. One who embraced those abandoned issues.

Before everyone starts taking or distributing credit for Trump’s victory ( not you specifically Sandra ) we need to know the truths behind some unknowns. Like just for example, just who behind the scenes when the Access Hollywood tape dropped were calling for pressing on, and who said to drop out. We’re getting some clues. Priebus said go, Bannon said stay. What did Rona say? That is directly pertinent to how much she actually helped. In fact I wish there were a list of what everyone said about that, including his family members like Ivanka and Jared ( I have no doubt his sons said to continue ).

Also, where did Rona ever stand on tariffs and trade in the first place before Trump won? Is she actually 100% opposite her despicable Uncle? If you know the answer let us know ( I don’t know really ) because that would be a great re-assuring fact. Finally, I have the same question about her pre-Trump views on Illegal Aliens/Amnesty and of course firearms. It’s certainly possible she is an atypical anti-GOPe Romney, it happens from time to time in families, but I need proof of what they said pre-Trump because it sure is easy to bask in the limelight of a winner. There is far too much at stake here, not just the Trump administration, but the nation itself.

I do wish Rona would personally get Sarah onboard and form a team effort. Next time she comments here I am gonna ask her to contact Rona to offer to help with recruitment and the ground game. It really is all hands on deck.

Spot on, Blade. Some of us are having a Condoliza Rice eyelid lift moment.

Ryan, McConnell and all other Rino’s are not going to give up the ‘loss’ mentality. I believe this happened in my district last November, when the Kasich-supporting RNC local chair dusted off a council member from 2003 to lose against a Dem.

These nail biters will continue to happen unless some muscle is exerted against those clinging to power.

I doubt POTUS is happy with losing anytime. A loss is a loss, it don’t go into the W column. However, the election ain’t over ’til the fat lady, ‘scuse me, the fat person sings, ‘scuse me again, the fat gender nuetral, unbinary it sings.

That’s right and what I figured, too. Lamb got 62% of 3100 Allegheny County votes; Succone needs to do the same with the 3000 red county absentee votes. It’s doable. Then he needs to win the 2 Westmorland precincts left to put him over the top.

When they hit that 99% pause, they are trying to figure out how many votes the D’s need to win.
Absentees, my A$$.
They tried the exact same play in PA in 2016. The vote tally boards were stuck on 99% for hours.
That’s an oldy, but goody. I think it’s written in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Unfortunately for HER, they couldn’t conjure up enough to fill the gap. This smaller number race should be much easier to “adjust.”

Nope. He just lost a district R should have won. PA has lost almost every R seat this past year, including 3 out of 4 judges. We are in trouble in PA, just like Virginia. Best to wake up now. Ignoring reality will cost us 2018.

We all need to stop obsessing over these races and start working.. we worked our rears off for Trump – He wouldn’t have one without us door knocking, making phone calls and posting the truth on the local news FaceBook and local paper web sites. If we sit on our butts and expect Trump to carry this burden by himself we are hurting our own cause.

Many old school R’s are still split on Pres Trump sadly. This is the (R) establishment and they’re deeply entrenched at all levels.
Makes for a long uphill push in some of these states. Electing Trump was only the beginning of this long, hard fight.

As PaulRaven1 has said many times: Until we eliminate the Propaganda arm of the DNC, meaning the USM, we are fighting an uphill battle. The USM must be destroyed. Until we get serious about that we are swimming up stream in a raging current.

It’s very arduous fighting the daily and slick professional propaganda unless ground troops are mobilized every day to fight mass media. One strategy is to tell people they are not the experts on 3D chess, to close their ears off 100% of whatever the media or the Democrat candidates say – and reward President Trump for his sacrefice and amazing results by voting whoever he picks. Postcards of thank you are no linger enough, If they voted Trump in 2016,then thank him with a show of force by voting his pick for November 2018. We’ve always known that if you don’t thank God for his blessings it will be sign of ungratefulness and taken away. Same goes for thanking President Trump. Show you are grateful and reward him which he gets so little of these days by voting in Nov 2018 for his candidate – the aggregate of which will prevent Mueller and threats of impeachment. It is the only way we will win the mid-terms at this rate!

Just got off the phone with Anthony Ross who we interviewed live on MSNBC yesterday in Canonsburg–in Washington County. Trump voter. He said he was undecided. He worked 42 yrs in sheet & tube steel facility that shut down in May 2008. Tonight? Told me tonight he voted for Lamb-> pic.twitter.com/bQDw15n8PY

There were some dynamics at play here. I’m from the district. First, Murphy left disgraced and that hurt the Republican brand.Badly… Murphy always ran and was a moderate in a D (50,000) district. Second, the confere appointment of a Saccone ( there were a total of 3 including Saccone for Murphy’s seat) left two camps, the westmoreland county candidate and Allegheny county candidate butt hurt. At least one candidate virtually gave zero support to Saccone. That non support alone probably cost Saccone 1,000 votes. Three, Saccone is a good guy but lacks charisma and honestly appeal to some Conservative democrats and moderate republicans. This is zero reflection of Trump, who is loved here. The real blame is the lack of continuity in the republican leadership in this district and state. Plus individuals who put person before party. Local politics folks, that’s it in a nut shell. Don’t lose heart, and certainly don’t look at this as some blue trend. It’s not. The stars never aligned on this one. We need Trump like candidates to emerge and they will. Lesson..so important to have everyone on same page and fighting in same direction,

Yes. Been wanting to say that myself but tired of being called a troll if I say anything out of line. I myself do not like how PDT fires people. Tillerson mght have not aligned with PDT but no need to humiliate him.

The #PA18 margin has narrowed again, to 579 votes. This includes the last precincts in Westmoreland County. All that's left are absentees. And maybe a recount. Or a lawsuit. Other than that, it's all done.

Important point on PA-18: Nancy Pelosi is a liability to Democratic candidates. Lamb had to distance himself from Pelosi and reject her. Ads that were ran tying Lamb to Pelosi made voters more skeptical of him. It’s going to be hard for Democrats to replicate him come November.

Let’s reflect a moment. This special election, in a district which may not even be a district in November, is a nailbiter for sure. Can’t argue that. How about expanding our thinking. A lot of attention is being paid.. This may not be a bad thing, in fact, it may be a ‘beautiful’ thing, the ‘greatest’ thing. Have we not remembered all those ‘traps’ President Trump and his Patriots have set for the enemy and each and every trap he set the enemy merrily jumped into? Yep, the PA 18th was a trap. A beautiful trap, so expertly set. This trap set historical records, Our VSG POTUS Donald J. Trump just trapped the most enemies of any U.S. President in history. MSNBC is an insane asylum.

Obama team is working hard to redistrict as many states they can do and want to run small small races at local and state level. Just a 2-3% change by fake msm makes the difference. Everyone is not politically savvy like us and there are tons of folks who follow news on fake msm just for few mins and vote.

So there is a reported estimate of 3900 total absentee ballots yet to be counted. If accurate, Saccone would need 57.5% of the absentee ballots to win. Considering they are all from Republican leaning counties, that is very doable. I will still predict a 100+ vote count win for Saccone.

Per Steve Lookner he would need on average a higher percentage in the absentee votes than he got in election day votes, which would not be following the norm for absenttes votes. Usually same trend follows. Could happen though.

While we are watching one of 535 congressional districts in the country in S.W. Pa. (Green county, wrasslin kids) and it went to overtime we run and get us a snack before overtime starts. We finding there’s a much bigger game being played. Bigger than the game in S.W. Pa. Okay, small game: score tied, overtime; Big game, opposition coaches showed themselves in public, we see the opposition players.

Non-absentee ballots were 56% in Westmoreland and Green for Saccone. 52% in Washington. This would signal maybe 58% and 54% for the absentees respectively per observations above. Hmm..barring margin of theft Saccone could swing it.

Westmoreland absentee ballots already in the total. Leaving the difference of 579 with Washington & Greene’s left to factor in.
MSNBC also said there are going to be a few hundred provisional ballots out and some military ballots.
Feels like a recount likely.
Best interview of the night. A woman rep at Lamb’s party talking about why the union supported him. Asked does that mean they gave up on Trump. Passionately replied no, they all still love Trump.

Yes I read 13% in a pre-poll were Trump supporters. Sadly, they are being thankless to Trump by voting DL and putting the President in jeopardy. This is a lesson for the mid-terms. Postcards and words no longer mean much if supporters don’t thank Trump where it counts by voting for Trump’s pick. People are playing checkers and don’t seem to realize they are being ungrateful. Prayers are not enough. God will exact his wrath if the mid-terms don’t reflect thankfulness for all that President Trump has put himself amd his family through. Forget about KAGA 2020. It’s a joke if these type voters think they can blow him off in the mid-terms, embarass him, and expect him to run in 2020. If 2018 mid-terms don’t pan out for Trump, don’t expect there to be a 2020. He’s not going to battle the swamp without Senate and House. Honestly, people are beyond stupid and it’s not just the Dims.

Yes, this is going to take a day or so and his handlers do not want to miss an opportunity to claim a victory – even if it isn’t – because the world will have moved on in two days and no one will care.

This is a non-event, how this Special Election got everyone so hyped up is beyond me. The sitting candidate was forced out due to a serious scandal, this is going to GREATLY suppress the turnout of the sitting member’s party PERIOD. There’s nothing surprising about the total votes for Lamb – last time the Dems contested the district was 2012 and the candidate in 2012 picked up about 10,000 more votes than Lamb will.

Saccone was tracking to lose by about 5% – Trump stumping brought it back to a coin flip. The district loves Trump but not the GOP. (who can blame them?)

This was not a non-event. If trump voters continue to vote Democrat in Nov 2018 and throw Congress and Senate to the Democrats, there will be no Trump in 2020. He is not going to suffer fools who won’t listen to him emphasize that he needs Congress and Senate to get fix the country. This isn’t even chess nor checkers any more! I’m reminded of the joke where the soccer or hockey player goes to the wrong half of the field or rink and scores one in the net for the opposing team. I’m frankly beyond disgusted because Trump won this district with the local newspaper against him. This time, the newspaper endorsed Saccone. People have gone back to stupid again. Thankless lot. Trump bringing steel against backlash jobs back and this is what his voters do.

Relax, nobody threw anything to the democrats . Or, as we fount out today, to the RNC.either. You know the DNC, and the RNC as well, spent like $20 million while Saccone had only 7 or 800 thousand. It was a beautiful trap, expertly set and timely snapped.. Someone’s (GNC) going to try to explain it. And no, Schiff can’t do it.

13% Trump voters voted for Lamb the Sham. People went against Trump in Alabama too, resulting in a revival of Stormy along with her 4 new friend witnesses in the style of Moore’s accusers. I’m not even sure what you’re talking about bringing Schiff into it. Have a good night while the rest of us ensure a better outcome for 2018 because, well, 2020 depends on it.

I have seen only the occasional soundbyte, but from what I saw and heard, Succone was a succky candidate with no charisma … and possibly … a borderline personality disorder. Is anyone in the Republican Party vetting their candidates? Succks to be a GOPe with an odd candidate such as this. However, this old, odd, white dude should have been TROUNCED by the highly educated, young, good looking military veteran Dem. candidate. Succks to be a Democrap even worse than being a GOPe.

He visited twice and even convinced the newspaper to endorse Saccone. All bets off if this trend of ignoring Trump’s advice continues. Saccone should have won by a good margin. Instead, we get slick pretty boy who isn’t even that.

Yet these people fail to see the plain fact that if the Dems retake Congress they will roll back Trump’s economic policies and kill the steel and coal industries. Lamb may be a great guy, but he’s a Democrat first, last and always. He will tow the party line.

Saw a lot of whistling past the graveyard in these comments. The Pubs better up their game in a hurry or November is going to be ugly. Luckily, the Ds are defending a lot more Senate seats. That’s the important chamber if we want to keep SCOTUS. Kennedy needs to retire and Ruth Buzzi needs to croak this summer.

Not sure who will win or lose the vote count. Dims have lost though. There is no Blue Wave, not even Blue Mist in this case. Dims +50K registered voters and the delta appears less than 500. Not a win really. The dims have expended a lot of money, energy and emotion in these kinds of races and for what? A few hundred vote win. They’ll crow about it to be sure. But no one will be worried about it in a week. And deep down the reality will set in at how hollow a dim victory would be. Please pass the popcorn! And if Saccone speaks it out…add more butter!